I have an elderly neighbor who's been around for about 30 years. Up until a couple of years ago, he and his even more elderly parents shared the home. They've passed. Now he lives alone. He's quirky, with quirky ideas. Whenever we chat the conversation always finds its way to the biblical ominous end of... Continue Reading →
The Lilac Bush
I had a beautiful yard surrounded by mature lilac bushes that served several purposes. They gave my yard privacy from a busy street. They absorbed sounds from outside the yard and absorbed vibrations from passing trains. They looked pretty. They smelled nice. I loved the oasis that this green wall created. Then one day I... Continue Reading →
The Star and Graduation
Excuses. Excuses. Excuses. I spent the last few days of the school year packing and moving and hauling and cleaning because I am being moved to a new school. I was spent. June is typically met with exhaustion, but let's add to that packing up a decade's worth of teaching tools and supplies and stuffing... Continue Reading →
Fast Food & Fear
**This post is not about dieting. It was a dark and stormy night. Actually, it wasn't. At all. It was a quiet night full of familiar sounds of the urban nighttime---sounds that lulled me to sleep from the open window in my bedroom. Sleep slowly took me. I floated away in restful slumber. And like... Continue Reading →
Love It. Keep It. Hate It. Leave It.
Thanks to social media conversations and hilariously reflective radio DJs I have been left considering things I love when I was much younger. Man, sometimes I make myself sound so old! I'm not. I'm just experienced (wink). Things I love now that I hated when I was younger Salads. Fresh. Crispy. Delicious. A whole meal... Continue Reading →
Mornings, I Love You—Now.
I am very slowly evolving into a morning person. I didn't always like mornings---at all. Ins and outs I can pinpoint the moment I realized that maybe I was missing out by sleeping in. The shift in my attitude about early mornings changed in the early 2000s when I was forced to go out. I... Continue Reading →
Why Did I Build My House?
The obvious answer is that my old house was so old that I needed something better than a crumbling shack to live in. The follow-up answer is that I needed something to potentially sell as the old house would be tough to sell as it was such a dilapidated mess. The not-so-obvious answer is that... Continue Reading →
The Case For Being Unprepared
There are two main categories of people: A) Those who plan everything, all the time. Research. Research. Research. Details. Plan A. Plan B and C, and D, and even E. You get the picture. B) And then there are those who just go and wing it. No plans, just moving along like a cork in... Continue Reading →
Does Anyone Really Listen
People don't listen, they just wait for their turn to talk. Chuck Palahniuk That time it became obvious that people don't At the dentist, I had settled in for my bi-annual cleaning, right after summer holidays. The hygenist was clicking away at the keyboard. I could hear her but I couldn't see her because she... Continue Reading →
David and I
One of my daily tasks is to promote Counios and Gane on social media. I also have a smartphone that does things like gather up pictures that fit into a category. The phone shows me the photos in what feels like a "look what I did Ma" moment. This morning I saw a nice little... Continue Reading →